Getting Mine: A Stepbrother Romance (14 page)

Chapter 23

Valentine

Past

“Oh my God.” I ended the call with my new agent, Michelle, and fell into my sofa. I was amazed and awestruck. I had just found out that I was cast in the lead role of The Burning Game! This was huge! After several long, hard years, I'd finally made it. I couldn't wait to tell...

Why did I still think of
him
first after my many failures and too few victories?

Still, his name was the first in my head, even while I was with other boyfriends. All of those boys were mistakes thrust on me by my father. I had friends too, but they mostly just came to parties with me. None of them really knew me as well as Arsen. I doubt I would've even liked any of them if I'd met them in high school.

Arsen probably would've made some kind of joke about my head being too big to fit through doors now that I was a celebrity. For as angry at him as I still was, I hoped he was ok. I wished I could just get over him, but a big part of me was glad I couldn't.

I had met so many famous people, and none held a candle to Arsen. I knew I would never meet anyone like him again. All I could hope for now was that his hold over me would eventually go away.

Or, that someday he might come back to me.”

Present

I made my way into what looked like an abandoned warehouse. I had no idea what the dress code was at one of these fights, so I tried to appear as nondescript as possible. Michele would've given me so much hell if I was recognized here. I wore a large dark hoodie and the plainest jeans I had, the look reminded me of the clothes I wore back in high school.

A well groomed, clean shaven man stood by a stairwell that led further down. He reminded me of a bouncer, like at a club. His head was down, browsing something on his phone. I paused, making as little noise as possible. I was all alone in a really, really bad part of town, heading into an illegal fighting club.

Run away before he sees you!

My anxiety threatened to overwhelm me. I'd never done anything like this before. What should I even say to the man? Was there some sort of code word I had to give him to get in? I should have asked that bartender more questions!

He snapped his gaze up at me, carefully looking me over. “You looking for something?”

“I—” I swallowed the lump that rose in the back of my throat and forced myself to answer. I needed to say something. 'It's all just acting,' Arsen's voice echoed in my memory.

“Yeah,” I said, feigning confidence like I belonged there. “I'm here for the fight.”

“There's no fight here.” He eyed me skeptically, then went back to his phone. “Sorry.”

What? There had to be! This was the location Arsen had written down and it was way too sketchy not to have something going on. This had to be the right place.

Part of me was relieved. I tried, didn't I? I could leave knowing that I at least made the effort. Besides Arsen
left me,
not the other way around
. Maybe he wanted to be left alone. Dozens more excuses crowded into my frightened mind.

Did he really want to be left alone after his father died?

No. I came here for a reason.

“Don't fuck with me, asshole.” I couldn't leave until I saw him.

“Excuse me?” His head shot back up.
Well, that got his attention.

“I came for the glass fight.” A steely reserve filled my tone, it sounded like I belonged there. “How much is it going to cost me to get in?”

The bouncer eyed me for a moment, not letting on if I convinced him or not. Then he stood aside and told me.

I handed him the money and brushed past him. I heard the cheers echoing up the stairwell when I reached the next landing. A few hundred dollars was all it took to watch a man get beaten to death. This was Arsen's world, the thought made me shiver.

Soon after that I saw the crowd standing around a filthy, blood streaked circle. All I could make out from my obscured vantage point was that there were three men fighting, each of them stained red and glistened in the hard fluorescent light.

I couldn't immediately make out who was fighting right away, it was just a mass of limbs and grunts. My stomach knotted and twisted with the sound of every sickening blow that landed. The cheers that followed made me sick. I pushed closer, praying that I made it in time.

Please let that not be him in there. Please, please, please, let that not be him!

I broke through the throng of smoking and cursing businessmen and found myself at the edge of the circle.

And there was Arsen.

A kick to the back of his legs, dropped Arsen to his knees. He was shirtless and so horribly bloody. I was queasy at the sight of what happened to him, it made my heart ache worse than it ever had before.

“He lost! Let him go!” My scream was lost in the chaotic din of blood lust. No one heard me or no one cared.

“That's not how this works.” A fat, suited man next to me laughed at my naivety, cigar smoke billowed from his nose and mouth.

A fighter raised Arsen's head for crowd approval. The other fighter readied a strike and then I suddenly realized what the fat man meant. There was no forfeiting.

Oh my God... I was about to watch the man I love die.

“Arsen!” I screamed with desperation.

Arsen looked right at me, his eyes looked dull and dazed. He smiled at me, letting the hand drop from over his heart. He was giving up.

His hand wiped away some of the blood on his chest and that's when I saw the tattoo. I thought he was protecting his chest from some blow, but it wasn't that at all. An image of the pendant I gave him was tattooed over his own heart. How had I missed that until now? He told me he lost it.

In the last few moments of his life, he was thinking about me.

He needed my help, how could I possibly give up on him now?

“Arsen, It's me Val! You need to get up!” I tore off my hoodie and brushed the hair back out of my face. I was still a well known celebrity who was about to become infamous.

I heard the men around me say my name in disbelief. A few pulled out their phones and began taking videos. My career just took its second big hit of the day. There was no hiding my presence now, tomorrow it would be all over the news. The crowd's previous uproar fell to a near deafening silence. Even the other fighters seemed surprised, but not enough to let Arsen go.

I was hoping that the shock of me being there would somehow give me the power to stop the fight. I walked out into the circle, but a dark, rough hand grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

“The fight continues,” said the heavily accented, black man who had me by the wrist.

Of course, just being here wasn't enough, I felt so stupid! What else could I do for him? I had to try something! And then I remembered... I was his good luck charm, he never lost when I was at his matches.

“Get up, Arsen! Fight for me!” My words were loud and unmistakable.

Fire sparked in Arsen's eyes as his lucidity returned.

Arsen brutally lashed out. He struck one of the distracted fighters directly in the balls. The man who held Arsen's hair collapsed in a quivering heap, blood running down his inner thighs. The other fighter hopped away and got his guard back up. This fight wasn't over yet.

Arsen's muscles went taught, he looked like we was made of solid steel. Arsen moved, blocked and countered each blow with strength and confidence. Where my heart had stopped earlier, now it raced out of control.

I'd never seen him look so powerful before. Gone was the beaten down Arsen of moment's earlier, now a man with something to fight for stood in his place.

Arsen narrowly avoided an extremely quick uppercut, then countered with a heavy knee, that caused his opponent to double over. Arsen delivered a mean right cross that knocked the man out immediately.

Arsen had won.

I rushed up and hugged him, not caring about the blood that ruined my T shirt and pants. I wiped away the blood and sweat from his face and I kissed him with the desperation of someone reuniting with a loved one they thought was dead. Arsen groaned in pain, but refused to let me pull away from him.

I hugged him again, looking out over the dumbfounded crowd. 'Aren't they related somehow?' 'I think that's her brother.' Speculation ran wild all around us, but neither of us paid it any attention. Despite the catastrophic damage I'd done to my career, when Arsen kissed me, I truly felt like everything was going to be alright.

In the back by the door that led to the staircase back up, I saw an eerily familiar silhouette. I did a double take, but I was right. There in the back of the crowd, eying me angrily, was my father.

What the hell was he doing here?

I knew he was in LA shooting his own film, but him coming to an underground fight didn't make any sense.
He was gambling again
How desperately did he need money if he was at a venue like this?

For a moment, I thought he might run up and scream at me for destroying his legacy, but then I saw the amount of phones aimed at me and knew that he wouldn't dare. He'd never want any evidence of him at a seedy place like this.

I stared back at him defiantly, my back straightening. I wanted him to see me like this, I was done apologizing. I was proud to stand with the man I loved, regardless of the consequences.

“Say it again.” Arsen said, pulling my gaze back to someone worthwhile.

“Say what again?” I helped Arsen out of the hot lights and the slick, blood stained fighting circle.

“Tell me you love me, Val.” There was a twinkle in the eye that wasn't too swollen.

“You are such an idiot. What were you thinking? You almost got yourself killed!” All my balled-up emotions flooded out. I could've lost him forever, the thought terrified me. “And if you ever do anything this foolish again, I will never have sex with you ever again!”

Arsen just smiled, “I love you too.”

“Let's get you to a hospital, 'Arsenal.'” Despite my anger, he managed to pull a small smile out of me. My anger dissolved into just relief that Arsen was alive. I dragged my fingers gently over the tattoo of my heart pendant on his chest, it even had the V in the middle. “I'm yours remember? I'll always love you.”

Chapter 24

Valentine

Present

“Easy, boy.” Arsen stopped Romeo from jumping up on him. Instead, Arsen knelt down, scratched the dog's head and rubbed his stomach. Romeo was always excitable, but it was easy to see that he loved Arsen more than anyone else.

“Jump on him, Romeo, he deserves it.” I locked the door to my apartment. It had been an extremely long night. Day? We didn't get out of the hospital till noon. I couldn't even remember the last time I slept. I was so exhausted.

“I leave him in your care for less than a day and you've turned him into an attack dog.” Arsen shot me a half smile and a knowing look.

Attack dog, hardly. Romeo was stretched out on his back soaking up as many rubs and scratches as he could. But leave it to Arsen to be so casual about thirty-seven stitches, three cracked ribs and enough bruising to make an overripe banana jealous.

The built-in apartment phone rang. I looked at it dumbfounded for a few seconds, how were people calling me on that? I didn't even know I had a landline, let alone what the number was. I guess that's how crazy the media was getting over what happened with us last night. I guess it wasn't that surprising, really.

They were just as bloodthirsty as any illegal fighting crowd, probably even more so. Arsen and I had just turned our phones off, we both knew what was coming and neither of us wanted to deal with it.

There were so many things to think about and discuss, like why the hell my father was at the fight last night. At the hospital, Arsen told me he'd never seen him at one before, but his associate Malcolm told him that my father had some serious gambling debt with a local loan shark.

My father was always a man of expensive appearances, maybe that lifestyle finally caught up with him. I could only imagine how much he owed if it forced him to attend fights like last night's.

“Alright, Romeo, let Arsen get some rest. Doctor's orders.” I helped Arsen off the floor, all those other questions would have to be answered after we'd gotten some sleep.

The doctor also ran a few blood tests on Arsen, just in case. Who knows what kind of diseases he could have been exposed to in that filthy place? Miraculously, they all came back negative. He was completely clean.

“You're that eager to get me into bed, aren't you?” He groaned with exertion from climbing the stairs.

It was truly amazing how tough Arsen was. I couldn't even begin to imagine how anyone could survive what he put himself through. I closed the bedroom door behind us to keep Romeo from jumping on Arsen while he slept.

“In the shape you're in?” The thought of him fighting back against all odds, all coiled muscles and testosterone, although scary, was incredibly hot. “You couldn't handle me.”

“That so?” His eyes flashed as if I'd issued him a challenge. Arsen peeled off his shirt.

His hard body was a patchwork tattoos and bandages. The sight of him half naked had heat climbing up my scalp, even like this he was gorgeous. He balled up the stained and useless shirt and tossed it across the room. Then he grabbed me and pulled me onto the bed with him.

“Stop it, I don't want to hurt you!” I protested, but he wasn't hearing it. He flipped me onto my back and rolled on top of me. If he was as hurt as he looked he didn't show it.

“I can take it.” The concept of me being able to hurt him, made him smile. “I can take everything you got.”

“Arsen? Why did you leave me?” The words just came out of nowhere, I don't know why I said them. But it was suddenly really important to me, especially after what happened. He almost died last night, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't know.

Arsen's smile faded.

“Your father came to me and told me what was going to happen. Knowing that we'd be related, that we'd be so close, but never close enough, burned me up inside. I wanted you, Val. More than anything, I wanted you. But...”

You had me!
I wanted to scream it at him, but the look on his face showed too much pain to do that. “But, what?”

“You were going to be a fucking movie star, Val.” His smile was slight, but so very honest. “I couldn't fuck that up for you. I didn't deserve you.”

Is that really what he thought? I shook my head to dispel that insane notion. Every minute around him when we younger felt like I had won the lottery. Arsen was everything I ever dreamed of, he made my life so much better.

“So much time had passed, why come back?” I asked.

“I had a bunch of excuses. But they were all bullshit,” Arsen must have thought about this a lot lately. “I couldn't outrun the way I felt about you. You were always mine, Val. I couldn't let anyone else have you.”

“You, foolish man. There was never anyone else for me, but you.” I kissed him slow and long. Fireworks crackled in my heart, and it felt like the first time again, out by the beach. In a way, it was. All the pretenses fell away. We were both here in this moment, not because we had to be, but because we wanted to be.

A massive weight was lifted, I was so happy I could cry.

My Arsen
finally
came home to me.

“You still don't deserve me.” I teased, quietly, brushing the water from my eyes.

“I know exactly what you deserve?” He bit my ear, his hot breath made me shiver.

“And what's that?” Suddenly my heart pounded, all my built up exhaustion drained away. Arsen's hand slid under my ass and squeezed as he worked his mouth down my neck. I moaned what I hoped were words. “What do I deserve?”

“A girl as famous as you?” His hand tucked up under my shirt and cupped my breast over my bra. His fingers traced my nipple through the thick fabric, then pinched it. The pressure made me squirm with arousal. “You need a hard cock to make you scream until your voice gives out.”

“Fuck.” I didn't swear often, but Arsen seemed to always find something primal in me and tear it out. He made it harder and harder to think when he talked like that and touched me. How had I been able to resist this so long?

Arsen slipped my bra out of the way so he could be as rough as we both wanted him to be. My body began to ache when I felt his cock fill out the inner thigh of his jeans. His tongue found my nipples, then his teeth. The slight pain flooded my senses, washing away my exhaustion and thrilling me.

“I have six years of getting you off to make up for.” He sat back, trapping my legs and grabbing my waistband. Arsen grunted from the wounds he'd suffered, but that didn't stop him. His strong arms flexed, easily tearing the front of my pants open all the way down to the crotch. More ruined clothes, I thought with twisted pleasure. I hope he destroyed all my clothes this way. “Six years of feeling you come against my cock.”

“You better get started then.” I popped the button and worked down his zipper. My brain was so drowned with lust, he had barely touched me and I was already climbing the edge of an orgasm. I pulled out his massive cock with a slight moan and worked my hands over it.

“I've dreamt about that wet pussy of yours.” Fingers slid between both pairs of my lips, I sucked and crushed them. They curled in my pussy, like only he could do. “I can't even tell you how many times I've jerked off to the thought of looking down and seeing you wrapped around my cock.”

“Fuck me, Arsen.” I couldn't stand it anymore, I felt like my limbs were all going to shoot off. I needed him to touch me, to feel all of him inside me.
I needed him to fuck me.

“Where's your condoms?” He asked.

I sighed angrily. We'd run out and I forgot to pick up more!

“You're lucky I love the way you taste.” Arsen slid off the bed carefully and pulled my pants and panties off. He went to go down on me when I stopped him.

“Not this time.” I grabbed his cock, slipping his fat head into my mouth. When I heard a low moan, I stopped and looked up at him. “Is this what you dreamt of?” I switched positions and laid on my back before him, bent legs hanging off the bed. I glided his cock over my wet clit. “Or was it this?”

“This is your one chance to stop me.” Arsen groaned, warning me. The tip of his cock hovered threateningly, glistening with precome. “Otherwise, you're along for the whole ride. And I'm going to fuck you raw.”

I knew I wasn't thinking straight, but I didn't care anymore. Whatever happened after this, I knew he'd be around for. To hell with the media and my father. We won. We deserved this. Fuck everyone who thought otherwise.

I bucked toward his throbbing cock. He cracked the mischievous smile I'd come to find intoxicating and gave me a look that said 'you asked for it'. Arsen let out a low guttural growl as he pushed into me.

I closed my eyes and traced the lights bursting behind my mind. It was amazing how different that thin layer of latex made sex feel. I felt every ridge and vein of his cock as he pumped into me.

He grabbed my thighs and roughly pulled them into him. The angle got him so much deeper inside of me. I tried to call out, but I couldn't pull in enough air to make any noises that weren’t moans and squeaks. He felt amazing.

I screamed and came hard, but he wouldn't stop.

Six years worth of orgasms and I could barely survive a single one. Arsen's cock was going to be the death of me, but I couldn't think of a better way to die. So many half thoughts rattled around my head, but the only thing that came out, over and over again, was one word- “More.”

And that was exactly what he gave me.

I lightly rubbed my clit, letting the waves of pleasure crash over me like the tide. I've never come more than once during sex with any of my other boyfriends, sometimes not even once. I didn't even think it was possible for a man to give me more than one. But with Arsen... I came so many times that my voice was hoarse from screaming.

“Come for me,” I moaned. My brain was mush and my body was wrecked from so much pleasure. I never wanted to leave this bed ever again.

Arsen slumped forward over top of me, on the edge. He was breathing heavy and went to pull out, but I stopped him. I wanted all of him. His cock exploded inside of me, warm seed filling me up, body and soul.

“Arsen, your shoulder—” I looked up at a trickle of blood. The exertion popped a few of his stitches, I felt terrible. What was I thinking? If nothing else, I should've been on top!

Arsen, panting and dripping with sweat, glanced at the wound and chuckled. He hadn't even noticed. “It's just a little blood.”

He wiped the blood away, then placed my hand over the tattoo on his chest— my heart pendant. I loved that a part of me was tattooed on his skin, it felt almost like a wedding band.

He leaned down and kissed me. I cleaned us both up and laid down next to him. We were both tired, filthy and beat up. I hugged him tightly as we finally drifted off to sleep in the early afternoon.

He wasn't Arsenal and I wasn't Valentine Dawson, we were just two lovers that had found our happy ending. The whole world outside might hate me, but right here and now, this room was my world.

And it was full of only love.